Her dad’s funeral, which drew some 4,000 mourners, was completely paid for, and the family was later flown to the national police memorial in Washington, D.C.

The golf tournament comes at the end of an especially poignant week for the Wilson family. Sunday was Father’s Day, and Tuesday would have been his 53rd birthday. She is also in the middle of planning her May wedding, a bittersweet time because it will be the first milestone with a designated daddy role that he will miss.

“After he passed, somebody described it to me like losing a limb. If you lose an arm, you’re still going to live and still going to be OK, but you’re never going to be the same again,” Wilson said. “That makes a lot of sense.”

Wilson took a year off following her father’s death, changing her major from nursing to public relations in the process. She keeps busy now, working as a nanny for a family of ER doctors and plans to focus on her studies, with hopes of going into sports PR.

Her brother, 20, is picking up where he left off on his baseball career, playing at Mesa College with hopes of getting drafted professionally.

Her father’s likeness smiles from two framed photos hanging over the kitchen table: one is a shadowbox collage that includes his badges, handcuffs and medals, while another is surrounded by signed notes from fellow officers.

Wilson has found strength and encouragement in another survivor, police widow Michelle Bennett, whose husband, Terry, was run over by a car thief in 2003. He left behind two young boys.

“She’s really one of the main reasons I’ve continued to try to help in the best ways I can. She’s just so strong and so positive,” Wilson said. “Whenever I’m having a bad day, I think ‘Well I only have to worry about myself and I worry about my brother and my mom, but I don’t have to worry about two younger kids that lost their father.’”